Resources from Funders and Allied Organisations Supporting Sex Workers’ RightsWe have organised the growing community of organisations supporting sex worker rights and provided brief introductions to strengthen the support available to the sex worker rights movement.
We have categorised them (funders, sex worker-led networks, and allied organisation) as well as created tags for key topics that intersect with our work.
African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA) is a sex worker-led African regional network that was created in 2009 and is based in Nairobi, Kenya. ASWA has more than 70 sex worker-led organisations as members in 33 African countries. The network amplifies the voices of their sex worker members and advocates for the health and human rights of the diverse community of sex workers working and living in Africa.
This regional network
Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) has 32 active organisational members in 23 countries that work together to promote the human rights of sex workers of all genders in Asia and the Pacific. APNSW conducts advocacy with regional intergovernmental bodies and the United Nations. The network provides training and technical support to its members on human rights, and quality HIV and health services, sets up sex worker-led legal services, and develops advocacy strategies.
The European Network for the Promotion of Rights and Health among Migrant Sex Workers (TAMPEP) promotes the human rights of migrant sex workers at local, national and regional levels in Europe. To support its advocacy, the network documents and shares the stories, good practices and needs of its members, develops position papers, and supports sex workers’ presence in key advocacy spaces. TAMPEP actively reaches out to other migrants’ rights organisations to build alliances and collaborate for migrants’ rights in Europe.
European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA) was formerly known as International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE). This sex worker-led network has a membership of 105 organisations across 35 countries of Europe and Central Asia. At national level, ICRSE supports sex workers’ self organisation though trainings, development of activities or strategic plan as well as submission to governmental consultations. At European level, ICRSE coordinates advocacy and campaigns and has been very active in building alliances with key European civil society networks across movements, and especially with migrants and LGBTI+ organisations.
Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) exists to uphold the voice of sex workers globally and connect regional networks advocating for the rights of female, male, and transgender sex workers. NSWP is a membership organisation – members are local, national, or regional sex worker-led organisations across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Northa America and the Caribbean. Their languages include English, Spanish, Russian, French, and simplified Chinese.
Hacking//Hustling is a collective of sex workers, survivors, and accomplices working at the intersection of tech and social justice to interrupt violence facilitated by technology.
“The Human Capability Foundation (HCF) is a grant-making foundation based in the UK. Founded in 2011, we support organisations working for the rights of marginalised communities.
The Foundation’s primary focus is in India and on the issues of: Women’s Education and Empowerment; Youth Education; Mental Health & Disability Rights; Labour; and Migration. The HCF seeks to build long-term funding relationships with NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and CBOs (community-based organisations).”
Humanity United is “a philanthropic organization dedicated to cultivating the conditions for enduring peace and freedom. We recognize that we live in a deeply interconnected world, where we are all united by the challenges and opportunities we face.”
New Moon Fund is an intermediary fund, that provides capacity building support to sex worker and survivor-led organizations in the US that take a rights-based approach to sex trade related issues.
Red Umbrella Fund (RUF) is the first and only global fund dedicated to supporting the rights of sex workers. It was established in 2012 to respond to the lack of funding available for sex workers’ rights organising. In line with its core values of autonomy and ownership, Red Umbrella Fund is a sex worker-led, participatory fund.
Red de Mujeres Trabajadoras Sexuales de América Latina y El Caribe (REDTRASEX) [The Network of Women Sex Workers of Latin America and the Caribbean] was born in 1997. RedTraSex is made up of organizations of women sex workers and/or former sex workers. The network is made up of organizations from 14 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Mexico). Their communication language is Spanish.
“The SWGC is a cross-class, multi-racial, intergenerational giving circle made up of a group of Fellows with current or past experience with sex work or the sex trade. The Fellows make all high-level funding decisions and grantmaking recommendations, and lead many of our fundraising activities.”
Sex Workers’ Advocacy Network (SWAN) unites sex worker-led organisations and their allies in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The network works to create societies where sex work is decriminalised and empowered sex workers can live free from violence, stigma and discrimination. SWAN provides capacity building to sex worker-led groups to advocate for their rights, support community mobilisation efforts and provides a space for its members to share resources and experiences.
Stella’s primary mission is “to improve the quality of life and working conditions for woman-identified sex workers, to educate the greater public on the different ways that sex work happens as well as about our lived experiences as sex workers, so that sex workers might also enjoy and benefit from the same rights to safety and security that are commonplace for other people.”
“UHAI – EASHRI are philanthropic activists in a region where our identities as LGBTIQ+ people and as sex workers are criminalised through punitive laws, where governments actively shut down spaces for movement organising to end discrimination in access to services and healthcare, where societal and public opinion upholds exclusion from families, exclusion from faith communities and denial of basic rights such as access to dignified livelihoods, access to fair hearing and justice by law enforcement.”
